The various lawyers linked with Prenda law have been, one at a time, filing their statements with the court. Paul Hansmeier filed his response to Judge Wright's order on Tuesday, and the final Prenda-linked attorney, John Steele, has now filed his. It has mostly similar defenses, suggesting that Steele's got nothing much at all to do with these cases.

Steele went further yesterday, telling an adult industry news publication that until two months ago he had never even heard of the Ingenuity 13 case in front of US District Judge Otis Wright, who has harshly questioned Steele and his partners. Last week, Steele and Hansmeier refused to testify at a hearing about their behavior.

"Obviously I disagree with some of the bizarre claims of criminal conduct thrown around by people without any proof," Steele told adult industry news site XBIZ. "I can say that I never even heard of the case in front of Judge [Otis] Wright until two months ago and have never appeared in a California case in my life.... this latest effort funded by the Electronic Frontier Foundation to stop anti-piracy litigation will fail."

That's odd, since the case was originally filed by Prenda Law. Brett Gibbs is the attorney prosecuting the case, but Gibbs has testified that it was Steele and Hansmeier who were supervising him.

EFF lawyer Mitch Stolz responded that while it's not clear what Steele meant by that, EFF has been working to stop copyright trolls from victimizing innocent Internet users for a while now. The EFF is not a party to Prenda cases, but it has filed friend-of-the-court briefs in some cases related to Steele and Prenda. The EFF also provided experts to "correct their misstatements about how BitTorrent works."

Meanwhile, Morgan Pietz, who represents dozens of John Doe defendants in Prenda cases, has said he has definitive evidence proving that Steele has a big chunk of many Prenda-linked shell companies including AF Holdings. In a brief filed yesterday, Pietz asks for permission to add additional evidence to the record. He wrote:

The documents are (i) a legal brief submitted by Steele’s (prior) outside counsel to the State Bar of Florida, wherein Mr. Steele explained that "The Prenda law firm is comprised of Attorney Joe Perea and Paralegal Mark Lutz. Mr. Steele is actually a client of Prenda. Steele maintains an ownership interest in several of Prenda’s larger clients. His presence at Prenda would be solely in the capacity of a client." ...

These documents directly rebut assertions made by Mr. Steele’s counsel (assertions, which, it should be noted, were unsupported by any declaration from Mr. Steele) that there is “no evidence” Steele is involved with the “clients” or this litigation. Undersigned counsel had hoped to question Mr. Steele about these documents at the April 2, 2013, hearing. Similarly, there is also evidence that Mr. Hansmeier has been more involved in this case than he lets on.

Pietz also says he'll be able to shoot down Prenda's recent allegations that Alan Cooper is essentially crazy. Those "outrageous attacks... are shameful" but also "easily discredited," says Pietz. He wants to get a chance to rebut all those claims and says he'll include testimony from a defense IT expert.

Prenda's strategy: "We've told so many lies, and have contradicted each other so many times, that it's impossible to tell which one of us was telling the truth at any single point in time. Therefore, you can't punish us."

You know, with all this crap they are throwing about I fully expect one of them to jump in at some point with a "Your honor, I can prove I have nothing to do with Prenda. Allow me to introduce this glove as evidence and if the glove don't fit you must acquit"

Prenda's strategy: "We've told so many lies, and have contradicted each other so many times, that it's impossible to tell which one of us was telling the truth at any single point in time. Therefore, you can't punish us."

To be fair, when you've concocted such a convoluted web of deceit and shell companies, it probably is very difficult to keep track of it all, and know which cases you might or might not be involved with.

You know, with all this crap they are throwing about I fully expect one of them to jump in at some point with a "Your honor, I can prove I have nothing to do with Prenda. Allow me to introduce this glove as evidence and if the glove don't fit you must acquit"

I'm getting tired of popcorn. How about an Ars Poll for a suitable replacement snack food to eat while watching this slow-motion train wreck? I'd lean towards Cool Ranch Doritos, but I'm open to suggestions.

This case is the gift that keeps on giving. Each and every day I look forward to reading the continuing sags of Prenda Law....aka "the gang that couldn't shoot straight....and doesn't recall ever being in a gang, and if they were, the gang leader was a mentally disturbed house sitter/handyman, but even then they have no clue what a gang is, and why are you looking at them that way, they're just simply attorneys who don't know what all the fuss is about, we're not criminals per se, but we'd really like to go back to running our criminal, er....I mean lawfully awesome shakedown enterprise".

You know, with all this crap they are throwing about I fully expect one of them to jump in at some point with a "Your honor, I can prove I have nothing to do with Prenda. Allow me to introduce this glove as evidence and if the glove don't fit you must acquit"

Obviously I disagree with some of the bizarre claims of criminal conduct thrown around by people without any proof

You don't need proof to make claims of criminal conduct. If you did, we'd have little use for courts. You just need sufficient evidence to raise reasonable suspicion, and these chowderheads have provided plenty. As a lawyer, he must understand that distinction.

Steele is such an arrogant douche that he probably still thinks nothing will happen to him, and he will be able to continue making millions to buy his solid gold watches.

FWIW, Popehat has been offering the opinion that the strategy they're using now is definitely a "try anything to stay out of trouble" tactic, that is totally sacrificing their ability to win any of the cases they might still have open (which seem to be few and far between), or ever use this business model again. So at the very least, they do appear to finally have become aware of how far up shit creek they are, even if they continue with the douchy superior tone to their briefings.

For those in the know, can they barred from practicing law in the U.S.? Or is it just state by state if they get disbarred?

My understanding is that there are bar associations for each level of the court system. For example, you need to be licensed to practice in federal circuit court, state court, etc., all separately, so you can also be disbarred from each level separately.

What if it turns out Alan Cooper is actually sane and is playing the crazy old man card while setting up all these Prenda fellows to take the fall for him, then disappears to the Carribean to retire on all those sweet, sweet, porn flick settlements?

Remembering that Prenda filed the cases that started all this is difficult. I wish I could believe every other copyright troll will ensnare themselves in lies and obstruction the way Prenda has. Too bad any of the remaining copyright trolls out there are most likely only shoring up their extortion operations in light of the lessons revealed by this debacle.

I'm most aggravated at this point that Prenda will go down not for petty extortion, but for bungling petty extortion so spectacularly.

What if it turns out Alan Cooper is actually sane and is playing the crazy old man card while setting up all these Prenda fellows to take the fall for him, then disappears to the Carribean to retire on all those sweet, sweet, porn flick settlements?

The people of Prenda claimed to not even know this guy. If they are lawyer that represent Prenda and didn't even know Mr Cooper, then it's their own fault for looking stupid.

I don't see how no one in the chain of command actually knows who the CEO of the company is, unless there really is no CEO.

Anyway, if you're in the process of taking the fall, why would you try to piss off the judge at every turn?